A rescued baby wallaby is being hand-reared by one of the keepers at Curraghs Wildlife Park.

Estimated to be eight or nine months old and christened ’Winnie’, the baby’s mother was a wild Manx wallaby which died three weeks ago after being hit by a car.

Tucked away in the pouch, the joey was uninjured and was found grazing near her mum’s body by a member of the public.

The fact that it was already starting to eat grass meant the baby had a fighting chance at being hand-reared.

The task fell to Carly Gough, who started as a volunteer at the park 12 years ago and is now a full-time zookeeper.

’This is my first hand-raising experience, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I was little,’ Miss Gough told the Manx Independent.

’It has to be a special, specific situation like this one. You don’t want to take a young animal away from a parent unless it’s absolutely necessary.’

Stress can easily kill young wallabies but Winnie adapted to human care and is now living at home with Miss Gough.

’She’s taken over my living room and she’s quite comfortable in there,’ she said.

’She watches TV with us, she’s usually on the floor munching on some willow branches, but if something on the TV scares her she hops straight onto me.

’I think she sees me as her carer.’

The pair are commuting to work together with Winnie travelling in a bed box which is full of blankets and a hot water bottle.

While her surrogate mum is at work, Winnie spends her days in a specially-built nursery pen inside the wallaby enclosure where she can get to know the other residents.

Once she is fully weaned off milk in about three months time, Winnie will join the other wallabies in the park.

Kathleen Graham, general manager of the Curraghs Wildlife Park, praised Miss Gough’s efforts: ’It’s very difficult to hand-rear a wallaby because you’re not just rearing a baby, you’re rearing a premature baby,’ she said. ’It’s quite an achievement that Carly has brought Winnie this far.’

She added: ’If a member of the public finds a wallaby that has died, it’s always worth checking if it has a pouch and if there is a baby in there.’